1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a call setup process in a communications network and more particularly to a method of setting up a calling party's (i.e., “a caller's”) substitute ringback tone during a call set up process until the called party (i.e., “the receiver”) responds to the call from the caller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a calling party (i.e., “a caller”) originates a call in a communications network to a called party (i.e., “a receiver”), a terminating switch or a network to which the receiver's communication terminal (e.g., a mobile telephone is connected to may provide a traditional-type of ringback tone to the caller until the receiver responds to the call. A typical traditional ringback tone resembles, for example, a monotone sound that turns on and off at a fixed frequency, which is generally perceived as being unpleasant or annoying to the caller or any listener hearing the tone. Recently, however, a substitute ringback tone service is gaining popularity, as the service allows a substituted ringback tone designated by a receiver (who is also a subscriber of the substitute ringback tone service) instead of an annoying tone to be played out to the caller until the connection is made between the caller and the receiver. example, in Korean Patent No. 292089 issued 20 Mar. 2001, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING SUBSTITUTE RINGBACK TONE DESIGNATED BY CALLED PARTY IN TERMINATING SWITCH IN COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK, and Korean Laid-open Patent 2002-56833 published 10 Jul. 2002 and entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDED SUBSCRIBER-BASED SUBSTITUTE RINGBACK TONE.
According to the services disclosed by these references, a receiver (who is also a subscriber of a substitute ringback tone service) is allowed to select and set the receiver's own substitute ringback tone, so that the switch would produce the sounds of the substitute ringback tone set by the receiver (instead of the traditional ringback tone) to the caller while the call connection is being set up (i.e., until the call setup process is completed) between the caller and the receiver. A substitute ringback tone may include a musical melody, a specific sound, a sound effect, or an advertisement message, among others, that may enable the call receivers (that is, the subscribers) to emphasize their personalities through sounds of the substitute ringback tones being played out to the callers. A caller would also be able to identify whether a call has been correctly placed to the intended receiver even before the receiver responds to the call just by hearing the personalized substitute ringback tone that characterizes the receiver.
Then, situations may arise in which a caller hearing a substitute ringback tone of the receiver also desires to adopt that same substitute ringback tone of the receiver to be the caller's own. However, it is rather difficult for a caller to set his own substitute ringback tone to be the same as the receiver's substitute ringback tone. This is because a caller who wishes to change the caller's substitute ringback tone to be the same as the receiver's substitute ringback tone that the caller heard while placing a call to the receiver, has to search for the heard substitute ringback tone in a content server through the Internet (the WAP-based wireless Internet or the ARS system). This search requires much effort on the part of the caller that may result in wasted time and expense, and in particular, the searching burden worsens when there are multiple contents providers providing similar services.